Chapter Text
Summer was officially over, but the weather was still hot enough that not even Sam was wearing a sweater. She was standing at the front desk of the B&B, checking reservations for this month. Upstairs, the Viking ghost Thorfinn was having a loud (LOUD) conversation with his son Bjorn, who dwelled at the Farnsby’s house. Sam had just moved from the B&B administration to YouTube for a sweet ‘dog reunites with its owner’-video, when she heard Thor gallumping down the stairs, and quickly returned to the monthly reservations.
‘Samantha!’, Thor bellowed, even though he stood right next to her. ‘Son Bjorn just told Thor about new Viking show on tv! Thor must see it right now!’
‘I can’t’, she answered. ‘I’m checking the reservations for the B&B this month.’
‘Easy!’, Thor huffed. ‘Season is over! Only five reservations! See-‘
He was about to point at the sad little number of names on Sams laptop, when a car drove up to the mansion. Sams eyes lit up.
‘That must be our guest of today! I’m gonna get Jay.’
She ran in to the kitchen, just when the Woodstone main entrance opened. A middle-aged man wearing a seagreen shirt and linen pants walked in, followed by a young woman with dark hair in a ponytail, who wore a faded red cardigan and skinny jeans. She seemed to be sulking.
The man walked up to the front desk and looked around for the Arondekars, while the woman sighed: ‘I don’t understand why you couldn’t just go to New York city. Sure, it’s pricey, but you only live once.’
Then she met eyes with Thor. ‘And I know you don’t know this’, she added for the middle-aged man. ‘But you’re standing next to a Viking.’
The man paid her absolutely no attention, so Thor exclaimed: ‘You’re ghost!’
She nodded, then gestured: ‘Nice shield.’
‘Thank you!’, Thor beamed. ‘Yes, Thor remembers the day that-‘
‘Good for you’, the woman tonelessly interrupted him. She still didn’t look very happy, with her arms crossed and her shoulders hunched. ‘Do you know anything about the food here? Is it smellable?’
‘Hello?’, said the middle-aged man while he kept looking around. ‘Hello-o?’
Both Thor and the woman ignored him. Thor still seemed delighted that someone actually wanted a conversation with him, and he enthusiastically said: ‘Well, small man is considered very good chef, but he refuse to put sour ram testicles on menu, so… debatable.’
Now the woman chuckled a bit. ‘Small man?’
‘Thorfinn!’ Hetty’s stern voice made both ghosts jump a little. She came marching into the hallway, along with the rest of the Main Eight.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man wonderd why there was no bell on the front desk.
‘I smelled smoke’, Hetty continued, eyes narrowed and locked on the Viking. ‘You’d better not have fried my-!’
‘Sorry!’ Suddenly Sam and Jay came hurrying in as well. Jay was still wearing an oven mitt. ‘We are so sorry we kept you waiting’, he said, slightly out of breath. ‘I was in the kitchen baking your welcoming cookies and Sam came in and then we smelled smoke and we had to check all the… But your cookies are fine! Anyway, welcome to Woodstone!’
He shared a look with Sam and she went back behind the front desk. Unsurely, she looked at the woman; it had seemed as if Jay had spoken solely to the middle-aged man. Moreover, the young woman was wearing only socks.
She blinked twice at Sam and then turned to Thor. ‘Maybe this is a weird question, but uh… can she see ghosts?’
‘Alright, you’re one of us!’ Trevor had pushed himself to the front, gazing shamelessly at their new ghost guest until Sassapis elbowed him. ‘Ow! I mean, yes she can.’
‘Sam fell down the stairs and hit her head’, Alberta added, with a big smile on her face.
Thor looked a bit crestfallen. ‘New ghost lady asked Thor first…’
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man hadn’t said anything at all. He just stood there, with a pale face and his mouth slightly open. Jay frowned. ‘Sir? You okay?’
‘Mr Lee?’, Sam tried. She checked the reservation. ‘You are mr Lee, right?’
‘They just welcomed you into their B&B’, the young woman said to the man. ‘Don’t you think it would be nice to say something back?’
Finally mr Lee said something, though it was only a whisper: ‘They smelled it too.’
Everyone looked at each other.
‘Excuse me?’ Jay took a step closer to their guest. That seemed to snap him out of his trance. ‘Yes! Hello! Yes, mr Lee, that’s me. And that rhymes, ha ha ha!’
Sam and Jay had no idea what to think of this and the young ghost woman rolled her eyes. ‘Could you please just act normal? They’re gonna think you’re having a seizure or something.’
‘He’s not?’, Sassapis asked concerned.
‘This is my key? Thank you!’ Mr Lee grasped his key from Sams hand. ‘I’ll find the room myself.’
He began lugging his suitcase up the stairs, as quick and clumsily as he could. The woman followed closely.
‘Are you going upstairs as well? We haven’t even exchanged pleasanteries yet.’ Isaac was slightly offended.
‘¡Ay, I’m sorry!’, the woman replied. ‘I can’t go further than five steps away from him. But uh… I’m Marisol.’
Jay could no longer bear to watch their guest struggle with his suitcase. ‘Wait, sir, let me help you with that.’
‘No no!’ Mr Lee clasped his suitcase as if it was his first-born child. ‘You really don’t have to help. I insist.’ And he really seemed to insist. Besides, Jay was still wearing the oven mitt and could therefore not carry much.
‘Well, the Maple Suite is on the left’, Sam said insecurely. ‘But we really can…’
‘No, thank you! It’s gonna be fine.’ Mr Lee had reached the top of the stairs.
Marisol quickly turned around and shouted: ‘Maybe you can come over in ten minutes, so we introduce ourselves some more? He’s gonna take out his luggage and look inside all the drawers first anyway.’
‘There’s nothing inside our drawers’, Sam replied without thinking.
‘Excuse me?’, mr Lee asked loudly. ‘What’s that about the drawers?’
‘Uh… what I mean is… they are empty because Jay hasn’t given you your welcoming cookies yet!’ Sam quickly improvised. ‘But he will… In ten minutes!’
‘Absolutely!’, Jay agreed, and raised his oven-mitted hand to give their guest a salute. ‘See you in a moment!’
Mr Lee walked to his room with a frown on his forehead, unaware that Marisol was following in his trail.
‘Well, that was awkward as usual’, Hetty decided.
‘Babe, why would I put his welcoming cookies in the drawers?’, Jay asked his wife.
‘Uh… ghost thing?’ Sam smiled awkwardly.